I had a 54-minute conversation with Glyn Hopkin this morning and as a result have had to moderate some posts. Please be mindful and do not associate Glyn’s decision to pull out with any other reason that the one stated below.

These are the salient points:-

1 Please do not discuss Glyn's personal life on this forum. For the record though his divorce was finalised and settled nearly a year ago.

2. Whilst the ASA ruling has important implications for all car dealerships, and Glyn Hopkin was named as the test case, it does not impact on the success of his business.

3. Glyn was voted onto the D&R old board at the beginning of last year, but this was never actioned by the Club. Glyn was a Director of the new company which took over the old company on the 18th December and resigned on the same day. 3. A number of people have made statements saying they have tried to contact Glyn with no response. Glyn has showed me evidence which disproves this. Particularly that he had a 17-minute conversation with a member of the supporters’ club committee, who indicated in the call that he would never solve the problems at the club.

4. Glyn’s departure is ALL to do with the flags. Before he came to the club there was just the North Korean Flag. Then since his arrival there was the Trumps Daggers flag, which, like it or not, does have racist overtones.This was followed at Solihull Moors away by a flag that said 'Soviet State of Dagenham' which Glyn took personally.

Glyn decided then that he would probably not go to any more away games, as he could not have his name, his brand and his company associated with these flags.

As an employer of over 800 people and around 250,000 customers, who come from all different faiths and nationalities, Glyn could not be associated with the messages the flags portrayed. Glyn is also involved with many charitable organisations and these flags reflect on him personally, as his name is his brand.

Supporters need to remember, that when we travel away we do not only represent the club, but we represent the borough too. This impacts on all club sponsors and potential sponsorship income for the club.

The images of the flags have been picked up by national media and circulated heavily. This is not an ‘in-joke’ at Dagenham and Redbridge FC; it has serious implications for the club.

Glyn took advice on the flag and fake email situation from his solicitor, senior people at his company, friends, family and other business associates. All agreed that he could not be associated with what was going on.Glyn notified the other members of the consortium of his decision that he did not wish to continue in October. Following a meeting and further discussions it was agreed that Glyn would continue with the consortiums takeover of the Club but would resign and cease to be a majority share-holder and have any involvement of the day to day running of the Club as soon as this occurred.

6. On comparing the Daggers Flags with anti-Semitic flags at Spurs, Glyn’s response was:I think you will find any anti-Semitic flags went ages ago. I haven't heard the 'Yid Army' chant for probably a season and a half now. The Club said it was not acceptable anymore and it stopped. I made a point when I was in the main square in Madrid recently to check all the flags (probably around 100) I did not see one offensive flag. 'Fat blokes on tour' was the worst!

5. He felt completely ambushed about the email. He understood that supporters had a copy for at least two months. Glyn does not know why someone could not have told him before, in a less confrontational way. Or at least told him what was going to happen at the meeting.If the email was that serious, why didn't they check out the validity of the email, through official sources, before confronting Glyn with it.

It feels like the whole purpose of the email was to bring down the Managing Director, Steve Thompson.

6. Glyn supports Steve Thompson. He did not intend on sacking him. Despite making this clear to individuals, they still did not seem to take the message on board and continued to protest. This was becoming vicious. Steve Thompson and Dave Bennett are shareholders of the club; they are not going anywhere.

7. Glyn had a meeting with Steve Thompson and Dave Bennett on January 31st. The purpose of this meeting was to bring him up to date with regard to any potential takeovers, player sales and the Clubs finances.

The Club is doing all it can at present to reduce its outgoings and to find a new buyer and Glyn has intimated to Steve Thompson that he will if necessary be prepared to listen to any help the Club may need between now and the end of the season.

I haven't posted anything on here in god knows how long, but I genuinely can't understand the amount of crap Glyn has been given after putting his own money into the club to help us stay afloat this long. If I were him I wouldn't have hung around either, the level of ingratitude is bloody incredible since he was never required to lift a finger to help us in the first place. Now people are acting like he has personally dropped us in it, no we've dropped ourselves in it by doing what we said we would never do, signing players we couldn't afford in the hopes of getting promoted, which like a 100 clubs before us, hasn't gone even remotely to plan.

7. Glyn had a meeting with Steve Thompson and Dave Bennett on January 31st. The purpose of this meeting was to bring him up to date with regard to any potential takeovers, player sales and the Clubs finances.

The Club is doing all it can at present to reduce its outgoings and to find a new buyer and Glyn has intimated to Steve Thompson that he will if necessary be prepared to listen to any help the Club may need between now and the end of the season.

Auntie Merge wrote:I apologise for the post and if I was misled? What do you want me to say?

Remember this one:

Auntie Merge wrote:I am not wrong. Stop pressing it Alan.

You do realise that you were part of the problem? You propagated a claim that you now conceded was wrong. You refused to retract it or to provide proof. It stirred up bad feeling between supporters and between the club and supporters.

It's clear that the flags annoyed Glyn and he was worried about how this may effect the reputation of his company. But, I still don't believe that was the sole reason he pulled out of investing in the club.

But what strikes me is how enthusiastic Glyn was at the start of the season about attracting more fans to the club, maybe because he believed he could get something back on his investment? When our gates were getting even lower than last season, he may have realised the extent to which he would have to invest in the club. Of course this is all speculation, but myself and many others are still not buying into the flags and fan relations being the only reason he pulled out. As much as Thommo is a very difficult character, it does seem as if he had the full backing of Glyn. Thommo, the rest of the board, and even Stilly (for having such a big squad for a non-league club) still need to take some responsibility for the club's current state, however.

The thing about there not being 'Yid Army' chants over Tottenham is nonsense. It's still one of Spurs' most popular chants.

Whilst I will be appreciative of Glyn's investment in the clubhouse, the mess he's left us in and the way he's left us will leave a sour taste.